Aside from size, there are more similarities than differences when it comes to the various forms of licensed child care in Massachusetts.

There has been a movement in recent years to shift the focus from daycare to early childhood education. In both center-based and home-based child care, parents can expect to find a licensed provider who is required to follow a curriculum aligned to the state’s educational frameworks. A major focus is to ensure that children are ready for school by the time they head into kindergarten.

“There’s been a lot of change over the last decade,” said Tom Weber, commissioner of the state Department of Early Education and Care. “There’s still a legacy of child care as babysitting, that this is about warehousing the child for a certain number of hours a day. That’s where I think the change has taken place. We’ve moved from a system that’s just child care to a system that I think is aptly named early education and care.”

The center-based model typically offers more structure than the family child care model. A licensed center may provide care for anywhere from 10 children to more than 100. Children are separated into separate classrooms by age.

“Some centers actually choose to do lower, so they have more teachers per child,” explained Corrine Corso, manager of data services and community outreach at Child Care Circuit, a Lowell-based resource and referral organization.

When parents choose a child care provider, factors they most commonly weigh are cost and hours of operation, she said.

The other main care option for children too young to be in school is a family child care provider. In that model, the provider operates out of their own home, caring for up to six children, or 10 with a large family child care license.

Family child care providers often offer more flexibility in terms of hours, Corso said.

“They’re all different,” she said. “They’re all unique.”

All child care providers in Massachusetts must be licensed. Licensing requires that they be certified in first aid and CPR, clear criminal background checks and complete required training.

There is an exception for providers such as nannies, au pairs, babysitters or relatives who provide care in the child’s home. Although they are not licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, they are legal.

Of children under age 12 in care in Massachusetts, 35 percent are in full-time center-based programs, 30 percent are in before- or after-school programs, 20 percent are in part-time center-based programs and 15 percent are in home-based family child care programs.

Learning can take place with any licensed provider, whether it’s in a center-based classroom or a family care provider’s home, Weber said.

Page 2 of 2 - “There’s a sense that quality can only be achieved in certain settings,” he said. “The fact is high quality is achievable across all those domains.”